


Speak Words of Water

by nagi_schwarz



Series: Read My Lips [33]
Category: Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: AU, Crossover, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-03
Updated: 2016-04-03
Packaged: 2018-05-31 02:47:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6452422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the comment_fic prompt: Authors choice / Authors Choice.<br/>If I could speak words of water,<br/>You would drown when I said<br/>'I love you.'<br/>[Spike Milligan]</p><p>Mama Lorne on Jonathan and his relationship with her son Evan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Speak Words of Water

Bobbie Lorne knew two things about Jonathan McNeil: he wasn’t what he seemed upon first glance, and he was in love with her son.

There was more to know about Jonathan. He was polite, so polite he met Nana’s standards, but he managed to be so without smothering Nana with the old-fashioned patriarchal bullshit that had bothered her all her life and that she railed against now. Jonathan was hard-working, threw himself into life on the commune without question, was up before the sun rose to run, did more than his fair share of chores, came back at the end of the day tanned and exhausted but pleased with himself. He was patient, too, made painstakingly sure he knew all about deaf etiquette so he didn’t accidentally condescend or otherwise be rude to Natalia when she came to visit. He had steady hands, because sometimes when he helped Natalia at her tattoo parlor she’d let him trace a design onto someone’s skin for her to expedite a tattoo or two. He was good with kids. Mikey and Gabby loved him. He roughhoused with Mikey without hurting him, was affectionate with Gabby without enabling her more annoying tendencies, was firm but gentle. He’d make a good father one day.

Except he got strangely quiet whenever Bobbie talked about Evan, about what he was like growing up, or what he’d said in his most recent email (he only emailed once a week). He listened to her words about Evan like they were raindrops and he was a man dying of thirst in a desert, drank down each one and savored it. His replies were short, uninformative.

Tell him I said hello.

Tell him I said good luck out there.

Tell him to be safe.

Jonathan didn’t ever write emails back. He wrote letters, though, the handwritten kind, the old-fashioned way, and put one in the mail once a week. He never got replies directly, but he didn’t seem to mind.

Evan replied to Jonathan’s letters in his emails.

My CO’s a good guy, looks out for all of us.

When I’m here I miss the food back home and when I’m home I miss the food out here.

Switched to a Para-Ordinance P-14 from the M9. Not sure I like it. Thoughts?

When Evan next came home on annual leave, Jonathan came with Nana, Natalia, Bobbie, and the kids to the airport to pick him up. Jonathan had helped Mikey and Gabby make Welcome Home signs, and when Evan came through the arrivals gate, Jonathan helped them wave their signs and cheer. Evan hugged Bobbie first, then Nana, then crouched down to hug the kids.

When he straightened up, Jonathan offered his hand, and they exchanged a handshake, but the way they looked at each other, a thousand things unspoken passed between them.

Evan’s soft, “Hi,” was a single drop of water on the surface of an endless ocean.

Jonathan’s smile was a tidal wave of _I love you._


End file.
